The Green Deal

With a week or two to go for Copenhagen Summit 2009, I am skeptical about the outcome of this crucial summit. The recent failure of Barcelona meeting indicates the indifference in the international community regarding the action plan to be included in the upcoming summit. The summit, seen as a successor to Kyoto protocol will decide the future course of action in our fight against climate change. But at this moment, I can see the looming crossroads at the Copenhagen with no final agreement.
The growing discontent between the developed and developing countries is a matter of concern. It’s agonizing to watch the blame game being played. On one hand, the developing countries charge against the developed ones for not stepping up to the challenge, the promise they made to protect climate change. On the contrary, the developed countries want the leading developing countries including China and India to be included in the fixed emission cut agreement. With no side willing to lose their respective stand, it will be interesting to watch whether this summit will be concluded successfully or will the Kyoto protocol be extended beyond 2012.

But what’s more important to know is that whether our industries are ready to take up GREEN BUSINESS? Can they ensure technical support to the global decision makers? In my view, the aspiring global business leaders are well aware of the potential of the green deal. With so much efforts being already put in exploring the other forms of energy- such as wind, tidal and solar etc on a large scale, I am no less confident that the innovative human brain will come up with some life saving ideas. The only major blockade I see is the expenditure that will be incurred on the research and development. As the majority of the economies ease out of the serious recession, can they afford the costs of managing the climate change, is one big question? Even though the organization is willing to spend trillions of dollars, the governments round the globe are concerned about incurring more debt. The only solution that lies before us is the growth of global economy. Even the finance ministers of various countries have acknowledged the fact that economic growth will enable them to address the mounting deficits. The cost of this green deal may be considered too high but the decision to remain blind-folded can cost our very survival.
We are left with no choice, rather it has become imperative to reconsider our decisions, come over pity issues and address the global issue seriously. No doubt, we’ll encounter many severe challenges in finance and resources, but managing the climate change demands a commitment and a long term involvement from all governments. The developed countries can take up the leadership role. It’s the time when we, the inhabitants of this planet, open our eyes and take bold steps, be a part of this earth saving campaign and contribute in whatever small way we can. If we don’t rise up to the occasion now, we’ll be digging the graves for our future generation.

Unending Debate on Indira

In last few days I came across as many as 15 articles on late Mrs. Indira Gandhi. And was bewildered to see the ongoing debate about her legacy even after twenty-five years of her assassination. To be specific the debate between her DEVI AVATAR and her DEMON face.

To many of her well-wishers and admirers, she was an avatar of MA DURGA who liberated BANGLADESH from Pakistan’s stronghold. The charismatic leader who raised the slogan “Garibi hatao” and abolished privy purses, something, we have recently witnessed being implemented by present UPA government too. To her credit is the nationalization of banks, which helped India to withstand the effect of recession recently much better than the other countries. One cannot take away the credit from this legend of keeping the nation united in the most intense moments of South Asia when there were predictions about India’s break-up in west .

True, she did impose the infamous Emergency, one of the shameful chapters of India’s history; during which democratic rights were suspended, many were jailed and media too was not spared. Or the ‘license raj’ that was seen as savior of aam admi but turned out to be a pernicious and led the corruption creep into the administration machinery. Her own insecure feelings tempted her to declare her inexperience son, as her effective second-in-command. But the Bluestar operation, seen as the most heinous crime by her critics, in which the army stormed into Golden temple, Amritsar, stirred the emotions of many Sikhs. And that ultimately led to her assassination at the hands of her own security guard.

In this ‘Gandhi vs. Gandhi’, I don’t know who is right or who is wrong? Her decisions were not always right. But no one can deny the fact that despite of the flaws, she came back with a thumping victory in 1980 elections, which showed the faith people had in her and they saw her as their only hope. While the blots of Emergency, legitimizing dynasty in politics will always remain, one must give her the credit for introducing a vibrant electoral process, keeping India intact and her foreign policies. The flaws would not take away the appreciation for the good work she did and vice versa.

And so I guess this debate will go on… In my view, it would be solely wrong to restrict her character to any one of the above mentioned avatars as I feel there was a transition from devi to the authoritarian figure. One can witness the different forms of her from a charismatic leader to an autocrat and perhaps the most powerful and strongest prime minister, India ever had!!!

CLOUD COMPUTING : The Power of ONE

With my growing love for new technologies these days,i decided to follow my friend's footsteps and share the news about the technologies which will mark an impact in near future.

CLOUD COMPUTING
In their quest to find answers, experts have demonstrated that the future of medical discoveries, environmental challenges, energy deficit, all lie in collaborating through Cloud Computing.

With Cloud Computing, users have been able to access data, share expertise and high-end infrastructure from around the world, and vice-versa. The resources are shared through a public platform like the internet. Several companies like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, etc have invested heavily as they reach out to users.

Cloud Computing companies have customers of three kinds -

* Infrastructure-as-a-service: Option of renting and utilizing computing power and storage capacity of vendor's quality.

* Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Vendors license particular services to subscribers on-demand and once the contract expires, the services are disabled.

* Platform-as-a-Service: Here a developer is given the opportunity to utilize various web-tools to build and host applications.

The Cloud (other computers in the network) does have its pros and cons in this formative stage. Its advantages include,

* Better performance by PCs in the cloud network, as fewer processing will be loading in each individual PC, the rest on the Cloud.

* No more spending on computer upgrades, instead services of another high-power PC can be made use of.

* Lesser hardware and software required, so costs of maintenance are tremendously lowered.

* Permanence of data, as all information stays in the cloud, even if you experience a hard-disk crash.

* Sync with experts worldwide on multiple projects and avail optimum results through the Cloud.

* Work from any PC and on the move, with the availability of internet access.

Cloud Computing also has some drawbacks like,

* The over-dependence on the providers.

* The reliability of the vendors.

* Protection laws in different countries vary. For eg, according to EU data protection regulation, personal information cannot be transferred outside the European Economic Area.

* Threat of unauthorized access to confidential data.

* Requires internet throughout and near-impossible to work with dial-up connections.

The concept isn't entirely new and is evolving even today. In the recent past, several variations have been introduced through 'Grid' and 'Utility Computing'.

- Grid Computing is a virtual super-computer formed by a cluster of computers in concert, each performing complex tasks.

- Utility Computing is a format in which subscribers are charged based on their usage, similar to the way in electricity is charged.

As new developments take place with increasing frequency, the world is on the brink of transition.

(Source:Yahoo)

PAST,PRESENT & FUTURE

12th September, 2009. Saturday. 4:00 p.m. outside temp-38 degree. Inside temp-38 degree( credit to electricity board for 7 hours power cut) patient status: body temp-100 degree.
My nose leaking, my throat in pain, my body aching, my eyes almost closing after every half minute but still my mind trying its best to deceive sleep.
Because there is kind of war going between my thoughts..Ahh..thoughts about the past & future, what happened and what will happen but not “what is happening”….( n I seriously don’t even want to think about my present situation)
It’s true that what we are today is because of our past, how we dealt with our life and its foilables, fallacies, fancies and fun. And what we’ll be tomorrow is decided what we do “today”. But we often neglect our present when we are dreaming about our future or trying to reason out our past by thinking “what if I would have done so..”
Now this “if” clause is also very interesting. “What if I would have studied…”, “what if would have gone there..” , “what if I will get ….” In Hindi we say, “aisa hota toh kya hota” and seriously, it creates havoc in my mind… especially when it reminds me of my unsuccessful attempts reducing my present zing to zilch. But yes, sometimes it does bring a smile on my face when it takes me to the dream world and let me have a look to my perfect future…!!!!
But most of the times, it leaves me questioning my own decisions. At times, I accept them and other I let them go. Some decisions were precarious. Some were truly disastrous. Some brought me peace. And some were just….. I can’t do anything about it and even if I m given a magic wand to change my past, I don’t know whether it will make my life better or worse.
And so , I decided that better to stick with my “present”. A GIFT that I have, why loose this time that’s in my hand and about which I m sure to something that I am uncertain or which is unchangeable. Rather use my experience, let it guide my present actions to build a better and brighter future. So that when I look into mirror after 30-35 years and reflect on my life, I have a wonderful path to look upon.

"We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand... and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late."-Marie Beyon Ray

Overcoming Fear Factor

Last night my result was out .And thank God, I passed and to my surprise with good marks. Anyway, what’s more important is this whole event led to a monologue conversation with myself about success, failures and overcoming fears .It got me thinking a lot about my battle with numerous fears over these years..to name a few- fear of rejection, solitude, losing, fear of public speaking, being laughed at..and the biggest of all- fear of failure. And the things that helped me overcoming these fears.

I don’t know how I became a host of these fears, from where they emanated , but certainly I wanted to get rid of them always , for they left me anxious, forlorn and with some wild phantasms of imaginations. With time, I succeeded in getting over most of them, but overcoming ‘fear of failure’ was the toughest call.

Fear of failure – this held me back from stepping out, held me back from reaching out to my dreams. I always longed for some kind of assurance that I would meet success before even putting forward my foot. With the passage of time, I conquered this feeling and now when I ponder about it- the thing that helped me the most was my change of attitude of perceiving failure.

For me, success - failure had been a black and white game. You set a target, and you achieve, its success and if not, then its black out-failure. I forgot that something existed in between. What if I didn’t meet the ultimate goal, I had covered a certain distance and so I cannot be a total failure. I lie somewhere between white and black and this is what I call ‘shade of gray’. This discovery brought a crucial change in my mind-set. My perception to see and relate various shades of gray to my success was like finding Aladdin's lamp. It brought both motivation and optimism in me.

And now, I am no longer harboring this fear. The word ‘failure’ seems amiable to me in comparison to what it appeared before. Defeating the fear is more like committing yourself to FAIL. For me, failure is no longer an antonym of success. It teaches me what is not to be done or what will work better. In other words, it lays path to success.

And of course, how can I forget my friends and all my near and dear ones whose support and faith helped me in overcoming my fears. Thanks to all!!

“Fear isn’t real. It exists only in future. And since, future doesn’t exist..Guess what? Fear doesn’t exist either….” - anonymous.
So live , live freely , without any fear!!!

REDISCOVERING MYSELF

"get a life aru"

a comment was flashing on my new status on facebook..i ignored it initially( whole day) but then at night, before retiring to bed, during my daily introspection, that line flashed back into my memory..and all of the sudden some words started to dazzle in front of my eyes "life, fun, laugh..." I closed my eyes and tried to pray , soon went off to sleep..but those words remain etched in the back of my memory...and for the next few days , whenever i used to be alone or jobless, some random thoughts perturbed me.. and left me disoriented..all this lead to a serious introspection of my present way of living...

and what found out was..that I was actually DEVOID OF LIFE...a vacuum inside me had been created...EVEN THOUGH I WAS ALIVE, I WAS BREATHING , I WASNT LIVING..I WAS MERELY EXISTING...

The more i looked inside myself, my fears grew worse..n then came the worst of all...when i discovered the LOST OF PASSION.., the fire, the drive that kept me going was missing...ghossshhh....i was afraid to know that nothing made me happy...happiness seemed to be an outlandish feeling for me..and i was slowly becoming the person i hate..i was gradually inculcating the habits which I abhorred...i was so much consumed with existing that i had stopped living...i felt so lost...i could sense a gulf created between me and my dreams..i was feeling like an EMPTY SHELL..bound to the chains of my fears and failures and solitude.. this scared me to death..i felt numb...my thoughts were spiraling me down into nothingness...My ears met the wails of my poor soul.. POOR SOUL, A LOST ONE.

...and in midst of this turmoil, a music being played in my neighborhood was trying to reach my ears...( It irked me because it was being played so loud and was kind of hindrance to my thoughts....when my attempts to connect my thoughts failed miserably, i surrendered ..and laid down with close eyes , listening the music...)

"Sometimes i feel fear of uncertainty stinging clear,

and I cant help but ask myself , how much

I'll let fear to take the wheel and steer...."

Each and every word was providing an impetus to my exhausted sub-conscious mind..a ques was put on , ans was awaited.. the ans has to come from within..Is this the way i want to live, actually thrive in this world..? Can i lose my freedom to the evils of my imagination...And impromptu came the ans “ NO, NO .....NNNNOOOOOO…..”

AHH...My heart had finally answered , and this brought a great relief within. Doesn’t matter , life has been unfair to me sometimes, but i just cannot stop dreaming. It struck to me that i have always been a good player of sports..never surrendering to my opponent so easily, fighting to win each and every point..Isn’t LIFE A GAME ?( Though it has its own rules , some weird ones too) How can i surrender so easily to my fate without putting a fight...no, this is not what i m , running away cowardly ....

That moment i realized, how much time i have lost in brooding and complaining to GOD for the scars that were given to me..

The only feeling i lacked was inspiration and faith , faith in my abilities , and faith in GOD .The moment i lost them, i had started digging a grave for myself. Since then, peace of my mind had deserted me. Didn’t matter, how much i used to meditate, my soul always wandered...

Though, few times, i felt the inner urge to move on, but that wasn’t just enough...But these little doses in between always made me felt that the embers within me were still left and all i needed was a little will..a little push...

And as it goes 'better late than never' i m happy to find myself back..to find the lost will power and mind beaming with positive thoughts . Even though, some ques of mine remain unanswered, some thoughts do stir my soul but i don’t let them take on my nerves anymore..

Life has strange ways to teach us lessons..sometimes we pass as though we are born champions and sometimes we fail miserably ..but failures doesn’t mean that life has come to an end..Its just a way to tell us that you need to do a little more 'hard-work', you need to learn to be a little more 'patient' and you need to 'believe' a little more in yourself.. I am happy to find my rhythm back..n i m all set to write my own song...SONG OF LIFE !!!!!

BINGO..!!!

“Sometimes I feel fear of uncertainty stinging clear

and I can’t help but ask myself , how much

I'll let fear to take the wheel and steer

It's driven me before

And it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal

But lately I'm beginning to find that I

Should be the one behind the wheel…..”